Ashby Mayor Graham Allman says he is 'gravely concerned' about the survival of local businesses as a second national lockdown approaches on Thursday.

The town's shops and companies have come through the coronavirus well, with a lower number of cases in North West Leicestershire than most of the rest of the county.

But non-essential outlets will be closing on Thursday along with the rest of the country.

And Cllr Allman fears it will halt the recovery in the Ashby area.

He said: "I am gravely concerned about the local economy and survival of businesses working from and within the town.

"The future livelihoods of many of our fellow Ashbeians and their families are at great risk to generations going well into the future which will threaten both the physical and, more to the point, the mental health of our residents.

"It is a hard call between the known, or rather, expected, effects of Covid-19 and the unknown results of damage to the fiscal health of the town and United Kingdom.

"There are no answers that are guaranteed as we have never been here before.

"But we need to have trust in our politicians both national and locally to put politics aside  to work together for the betterment of mankind and place faith in whatever god you believe in."